Turning the space above a doorway into a personal climbing training area.

ATOMIK – Building a Climbing Training Hangboard

11.2

LOCATION OF YOUR HANGBOARD

Location means everything.

Decide where to put your board. 24” to 30” is a common bathroom door width. 30” is a standard bedroom door; 36” a standard entry door. Choose a location with head room and a clear landing. At the top of stairs is a bad idea due to pulling up and hitting your head or falling down stairs. Our example is a 12” h x 48” w hang board above a hallway door.

ATOMIK – Building a Climbing Training Hangboard

11.3

SIZE OF YOUR HANGBOARD

Location means everything.

Cut 3/4” plywood to the size needed. Don’t cheat on plywood thickness. Reason #1: the height of the t-nut cylinder. Reason #2: structural integrity. (3/4” is the industry standard) We recommend 12” height because it allows 2-3 rows of holds. With a 18-24” inch tall board, your hands will be almost 8 feet off the ground. It can be sketchy at that height and the lower holds will hit your forearms and elbows.

Cut two 1.5 inch wide vertical furring strips** to the board’s height. Now cut 2 horizontal strips to the board’s width - less 3 inches from the vertical strips. I prefer 1 x 2 ‘s (actual size is 3/4 x 1.5 inches) readily available at local hardware stores. Attach left & right side strips to the panel back using glue and finish nails. Next glue and nail the top & bottom strips. I used Elmer’s Wood Glue and 1 ¼” finish nails.

ATOMIK – Building a Climbing Training Hangboard

11.5

FURRING STRIPS

Furring strips allow attachment bolts to pass through the hold, the hangboard, the t-nuts, and into a space created by furring strips. This keeps bolts from touching the wall and “pushing” the hang board off the wall (undesirable).

Bottom line: Don’t skip the furring strips! They allow different sizes of holds – and the different bolt lengths needed.

ATOMIK – Building a Climbing Training Hangboard

11.6

TO PAINT OR NOT TO PAINT

To look finished or leave it raw

Leave the panel raw at this point or finish it with paint or a stain sealer. I use a sander to take the sharpness off the board and smooth out the edges. If painting, prime first or use paint with primer added. Textured surfaces are nice to keep holds from spinning when you hang on them. Tighten the holds securely if you prefer not to texture your paint.

ATOMIK – Building a Climbing Training Hangboard

11.7

T-NUT LOCATIONS AND QUANTITY

You can never have too many t-nuts on a hangboard

Below is a t-nut layout that allows a clear arm path on all 3 levels. You can tweak the layout any way you like, just be sure to drill holes so they miss the furring strips. YELLOW highlighted dots are t-nut holes drilled with a 7/16” wood bit.

ATOMIK – Building a Climbing Training Hangboard

11.8

MOUNTING SCREW LOCATIONS AND SECURITY

Locate the wall studs and you’re in business

RED highlighted dots are attachment points ( #8 x 3.5” mounting screws ). The red screw dot positions may be different for your board due to the spacing of your wall studs. Put these screws where your studs are in the wall. A wider board, the extra width often makes fastening into the wall studs around the door easier.

ATOMIK – Building a Climbing Training Hangboard

11.9

DRILLING THE T-NUTS

Hide the blowouts

Drill 7/16” holes into the panel from the Front side to the Back side. This keeps unsightly drill bit ‘blow outs’ on the back side where you won’t see them.

ATOMIK – Building a Climbing Training Hangboard

11.10

HAMMERING IN THE T-NUTS

Noisy, fun, precise.

Hammer t-nuts into the holes on the back side of the panel. Ear protection is a good idea. Be sure that the t-nuts go in straight.

ATOMIK – Building a Climbing Training Hangboard

11.11

SANDING

Smooth operator

Sand the edges and the face of the board.

ATOMIK – Building a Climbing Training Hangboard

11.12

INSTALLING YOUR HANGBOARD

Locate it

Locate the studs over your door frame and mark the center of your opening.

ATOMIK – Building a Climbing Training Hangboard

11.13

INSTALLING YOUR HANGBOARD

Drill it

Countersink 3 holes per vertical stud and set the #8 x 3 ½” wood screws into the predrilled holes.

ATOMIK – Building a Climbing Training Hangboard

11.14

INSTALLING YOUR HANGBOARD

Attach it

Center board over opening and attach board into the studs.

ATOMIK – Building a Climbing Training Hangboard

11.15

THE FUN BEGINS

Hold it up

The fun part is picking holds. All holds are sold and priced as pairs. For specific holds this is where our system rocks. Into endurance mode during winter? Set your board up with slopers and nice rounded jugs and you can spend long easy hangs on the board. Getting ready for Hueco? Crimp the board out. However you want to train — simply switch the holds around — it’s best to have extra holds for diversity, so buy yourself options. Next is a beginner board set with big slopers, big jugs and big pinches, with a couple edges in there too. See the symmetrical layout? This is one of thousands of variations.